Mo Salah leads Lionel Messi in Ballon d'Or 2018 voting so far

The Liverpool and Egypt icon has the lion’s share, the equivalent to 51 per cent, of the 242,000 votes cast by fans on the official website for the award following the announcement of 30 nominees on Monday.

A section of those votes go some way towards the awarding of the covered prize overall in December.

Currently, five-time winner Lionel Messi is in second spot with 30 per cent while no other player has registered more than five per cent.

Clubs

No Mohamed Salah 'crisis', insists Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists there is no crisis surrounding Mohamed Salah’s form and does not expect the Egypt international to repeat his record-breaking goalscoring feats from last season.

The 26-year-old enjoyed a stellar first year at Anfield, scoring 44 goals in total and setting a new Premier League record of 32 goals for a 38-game campaign.

After a shoulder injury in May’s Champions League final, Salah had a disappointing World Cup and on his return to English football does not yet look like the player who terrorised defences, scoring almost at will.

However, his tally of two goals from six matches in all competitions compares to three from half-a-dozen this time last year.

“On the defensive side the last two games he was outstanding, perfect, and it is so important in these games especially, so that says everything about him: that he is really ready to work for the team in these moments.

“It is a completely normal situation for an offensive player that they have times when they don’t score. But he is still a threat, had fantastic situations in both games and he is in good shape.

“Finishing is something you can never take for granted. I would never do that, the players should never do that – only the supporters are allowed to do that.”

Klopp was asked whether the perception that Salah was not doing well was because many people expected him to repeat last season’s heroics.